Syllabus: Philosophy 307: Plato’s Republic
Fall Semester, 2009 Professor Drew A. Hyland
Office Hours: Tuesday, 1:30-4:00 or by appointment. X2426. McCook 324
Email: Drew.Hyland@trincoll.edu
Website: http://www.trincoll.edu/~dhyland
Class Blackboard site: http://bb.trincoll.edu
Books:
Bloom
(trans.): The
Waterfield (trans.): Plato: Symposium
Gallop
(trans.): Defense of Socrates, Euthyphro, Crito
Assignments:
Tues., Sept. 8: Introduction
Tues., Sept. 15: Apology, Symposium
Tues., Sept 22: Republic, Bk. I: Bloom, 307-337
Tues., Sept. 29: Republic, Bk. II: Bloom, 337-353
Tues., Oct.6: Republic, Bks. I, II, Bloom, 307-353
Tues., Oct. 13: Trinity Days
Tues., Oct. 20: Republic, Bk. III, IV: Bloom, 353-379
Tues., Oct. 27: Republic, Bk. V: Bloom, 379-397
Tues., Nov. 3: Republic, Bk. VI: Bloom, 397-401
Tues., Nov. 10: Republic, Bk. VII: Bloom, 401-412
Tues., Nov. 17: Republic, Bk. V-VII: Bloom, 379-412
Tues., Nov. 24*: Republic, Bk. VIII: Bloom, 412-422
Tues., Dec. 1: Republic, Bk. IX: Bloom, 422-426
Tues., Dec. 8: Republic, Bk. X: Bloom, 426-436
* This is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving vacation. If the class desires, we can change the date of this seminar to Sunday evening, November 29, at the end of the vacation. We can determine this in the first seminar.
Required Work:
1. Protocols: every third week each student will bring to class a 1-2 page typewritten discussion of some aspect of the material covered in the previous week. We will orient each seminar in relation to previous seminars by reading aloud and discussing one or two protocols each week. These protocols should raise questions that remain from the previous week’s discussion and reading. The protocols will be collected and graded each week. The four protocols together will count a total of 25% of final grade.
2. One formal presentation in class. This presentation will be done in pairs, and should take up the first half of the seminar each week (approximately one hour and fifteen minutes). Each week, one pair of students will be assigned the preparation of the oral presentation for that week. The presentation should bear on the reading for the week. On each Monday morning, the presenting students should meet with me to discuss the guiding questions to be raised at Tuesday’s seminar. Consequently, the preparation should begin over the weekend and be completed after the Monday meeting. 25% of final grade.
3. Papers: Two papers, each 10 pages, on some aspect of Plato covered to that point in the course. Students may elect to continue the theme of the first paper in the second. These papers should utilize secondary sources. Papers should be submitted as an email attachment. Due November 3 and December 15. The two papers together will count a total of 50% of the final grade.
N.B. No Late Papers. If you do not hand in a paper or protocol at the time it is due, you will receive a failing grade for that paper.
N.B. Attendance: If you have an utter contempt for learning, an equal contempt for your classmates and professor, and are here to waste large amounts of your parents’ money, you may miss class whenever you choose. Let me assure you, your grade will reflect those absences, as you cannot do well if you miss class. But of course, you presumably also have contempt for grades.